BOSTON — The Bruins still have things to clean up before the playoffs arrive, but at least now they know for sure that they are in.
The Bruins snapped a season-long three-game losing streak with a tense 2-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins at TD Garden on Saturday, getting first period goals from Trent Frederic and Erik Haula that held up through another tough second period and breath-holding time late in the third.
They went 0 for 2 on the power play (0 for 25 in their last seven games) and it felt at times like their 2-0 first period lead was going to completely disappear again, but they hung on late, surviving a 6-on-5 at the end of the game to clinch the postseason spot.
The chances that the Bruins would not have qualified for the playoffs were miniscule, but clinching with a win against the Penguins after the way the B’s had been playing, the benchmark was worth appreciating.
“We talked about it in the room. We have a standard here. So we’re not going to go out an celebrate that we made the playoffs. But it’s still an accomplishment you can be proud of,” said Bruce Cassidy, who has now reached the postseason for the sixth time in as many tries as Bruins coach. “It’s not easy to do it year in, year out in this league. I shouldn’t say it yet, but the New York Islanders, for example. Two Eastern Conference Finals Game 7s right down to the wire, and they almost need a miracle now to get in. So it’s not an automatic. Things happen during the year. For us, it certainly didn’t look automatic in November. Give the guys credit. They played through some adversity then and we ended up finding our game. It maybe took us a few more games than we’d hoped recently. But we’re in now and now we can start building out game for the playoffs, which I think we’ve bene doing for the last months. We’ve just got to get our habits back and hopefully stay healthy.”
With Linus Ullmark on the shelf with what’s presumed to be concussion symptoms — Cassidy said he was feeling better on Saturday — the Bruins got the kind of performance they needed from Jeremy Swayman. The rookie recorded 23 saves and his first win since April 2 after three straight losses. He came up big in the third (nine saves) to help the Bruins hang on.
“I felt good. It was one of those games where I wanted to make sure I was square to the puck, seeing it well, get a little feel for it,” Swayman said. “I defintely took a lot of positives from today and I’m excited to move forward with it.”
As they did in their previous meeting against the Penguins, the Bruins jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first. Frederic, scratched on Thursday after taking a bad penalty on Tuesday, came out breathing fire and scored just 49 seconds into the game. After an offensive zone faceoff loss, he beat John Marino to a loose puck on the left boards, bumped it low to Craig Smith and headed to the net. Smith didn’t mess around, firing a shot on goalie Casey DeSmith. The shot produced a slot rebound and Frederic was there to backhand it home for his sixth of the season.
By the 2:01 mark, the B’s had a 2-0 lead. Haula collected his own rebound off a rush shot and threw it into the crease, where it deflected home off a Pittsburgh skate for Haula’s 15th.
The Bruins had chances to extend the lead, failing on their lone power-play of the period, stretching the streak of futility to 0 for 24, and the snake-bitten Brad Marchand was robbed by DeSmith a couple of times.
Unfortunately for the Bruins, the early 2-0 lead was not the only similarity to that Feb. 8 game. As he did two months ago, old friend Danton Heinen got the Pens on the board early in the second period, on a goal Swayman should have had. It appeared as though the Bruins had a 2-on-2 thwarted when the puck came to Heinen in the high slot. Heinen snapped a shot that may have been deflected out high but still gave time for Swayman to react. But he didn’t pick it up until late and it beat him.
That would be Swayman’s only blemish on the day but, at the time, the here-we-go-again vibe was palpable. They had lost four of their previous five games and, in all the losses, the Bruins had held a lead at one point.
Then the Bruins did all they could to help the Pens tie it up. They survived a Nick Foligno hooking penalty, failing on numerous chances to get the puck out of the zone. When Foligno was freed, the Bruins were still in scramble mode and Charlie McAvoy took a tripping penalty on Sidney Crosby.
The second kill was much cleaner, though, and the Bruins appeared to regain some equilibrium from it.
“I thought what was good about that kill was the shots they got ended up being off net and some of that has to do with us working hard to our spots and forcing them into hurrying their shot becuase we were in the lane. And that’s good killing to me,” said Cassidy. “(The killers) weren’t great the other night against Ottawa. As much as the power-play wasn’t good, neither was the kill. We pride ourselves on that, so good to get that part back up and running and hopefully the power-play will start contributing as well.”
The Bruins would be forced to kill a third penalty in the third, then face the 6-on-5 with DeSmith pulled for the extra skater, but the Pens never got another one by Swayman.
Then it was happy time. With Ullmark out, Swayman had to improvise his post-win celebration. He decided to a belly-bump with backup Troy Grosenick, but the aesthetic was not pleasing.
“We both almost fell down,” said Swayman with a sheepish laugh. “That was a new one.”
He then went with a self-hug after regaining his balance. But his pal did not leave him hanging. When he came off the ice, Ullmark met Swayman in the hallway and the two completed their now trademark goalie hug.
With a playoff spot clinched and two days off ahead, all seemed right in the Black and Gold. At least for the moment.
